As I had Carlos booked for the entire
convention, he decided to take it slow
on the first day and we got five hours
of work done. The second day was the
longest at eight hours. I could have
gone a lot longer - not because of my
Wolverine-like healing powers, but due to
Carlos’ feather-light touch. It was briefly
painful as he worked his way around my
elbow but as he moved on it became
only a mild discomfort. The third and last
day was about 5 hours, he had saved the
face till last as that was his favourite part
to tattoo.
Conventions are a great start to getting
booked in with your favourite tattooist.
Although every artist takes bookings
differently - some book up years in
advance - many book up a few months
then close their books for a while.
Personally talking to the tattooists
immediately puts you ahead of many
of the emails that they receive. If you
are enquiring by email, tattooists can
take weeks, even months, to respond
- persistence is key. The Brag Art List
is a very handy app, allowing you to
search for tattooists around the world by
location.
As for getting a tattoo at a convention,
some tattooists do walk ups while
others like to book months in advance.
Tattooists do also get cancellations
and no-shows, so it’s always worth
keeping an eye out on social media. Or
in Carlos’ case this time, he went off
on holiday and forgot to book anyone
for the convention – meaning he had a
last-minute opening for anyone crazy/
lucky enough to get their a$$ to Paris in
time. t
£ Unknown artist
- I like his banners
though.
£ Behind the
scenes for the tattoo
competition.
£ The magnificent
Steve Butcher (IG:
@SteveButcherTattoos)
is really pushing the
boundaries of hyper
realism in tattoos.
38 | FreestyleXtreme.com
£ Noka (IG:
@NokaTattoo) working
on a big back piece.
Some very painful
spots there.